Reimel Motor Cars is proud to offer t this magnificent custom-bodied Mercedes Benz 500K Four-passenger Tourer by Mayfair has been re-finished in a rich British Racing Green livery befitting its English heritage, with complimentary cream leather upholstery, beige carpeting, and a black canvas folding top, all offset by silver-painted wire wheels and twin spares. 123689 retains its original matching-numbers chassis, frame, and engine, as well as its original Typenschild, or data plate, a rare feature these days.

Just 342 examples of the breathtaking 500K were built from 1934 to 1936 before that model was superseded by the mighty 540K of which 419 were constructed. Most of those chassis were fitted with factory coachwork in various long- and short-wheelbase styles from Sindelfingen, but no more than 70 are known to have been delivered to custom coachbuilders. According to marque authority Michael Frostick, 56 right-hand drive chassis were sent to England, eight of them as rolling chassis. Those eight received bespoke bodies, both open and closed, to the buyers' specifications. This long-wheelbase (129.5-inch) right-hand-drive chassis carries Daimler-Benz commission number 207792,and was delivered through Norwich dealer Mann Egerton to its first owner, Sir Everard Talbot Scarisbrick (1896-1955), the 2nd Baronet and 30th Lord of Scarisbrick in Lancashire. The Baronet, a connoisseur of fine automobiles, was certainly fond of the marque and even built his own behemoth 18 Liter Benz engine Mercedes in the 1920s which he raced at Brooklands and was named 'Rabbit the First'.

It is not known how he elected to body the car, but upon its completion for the road and delivery to the Baronet in July of 1935, the car was assigned UK registration BYU150. According to the notes of Ronald Johnson by 1939, that coachwork had already been upgraded with the sporting aluminum body (with steel fenders) that it still wears to this day, built by the Mayfair Carriage Company of Kilburn, London. Founded as the "Progressive Carriage Company" in 1920, Mayfair is best known for its fine, high-quality coachwork. By 1929, the firm had changed its name to "Mayfair". One source states that "By the 1930s, (they) were responsible for creating some of the most luxurious and impressive coach bodies of their time." Nearly 400 Rolls-Royce chassis were clothed in Mayfair's coachwork, as were a few pre-war Bentleys, several open and closed Alvis Speed models, Lagondas, Armstrong-Siddeleys, at least one Sunbeam, a Buick, and according to the consignor, a single Mercedes Benz 500K, chassis 123689.

The Mayfair Tourer body is wonderfully stylish, its sporting lines highlighted by a beltline dip more commonly associated with Malcolm Campbell's influence on Vanden Plas Bentleys of the 1930s. At the same time, this 500K retains all the classic hallmarks of that series, including the massive upright radiator, long sweeping fenders, and twin chromed exhaust pipes exiting through the hood side panels. When completed by Mayfair it was refinished in British Racing Green.

It is not known when it left the Baronet's ownership, perhaps around the time of its rebody, or perhaps after the war, but it can next be charted when it appeared in a sales advertisement by prominent London dealer Jack Bond in the November 1952 issue of Motor Sport. From Johnson's notes, the next owner was C.M. Younghusband of Horton in Buckinghamshire, then J.T. Bartley of Sevenoaks in Kent by February 1957. When Bartley elected to sell the car in 1961, it migrated from the UK and arrived on these shores. Its first known U.S. owner was a Nancy Carragan who campaigned the car at a Lime Rock meeting of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America in 1962. The car was next purchased by an Arnold Dubb.

In his custody, the Mercedes was displayed in Albany, New York, and Mr. Dubb registered the car with the Classic Car Club of America, as it appears in that group's 1967 directory. Its next owner, a Mr. David Cohen, installed a striking new interior in what was charitably described as "grapefruit pink", which must have made a stunning combination, from Dubb it passed to a Dr. Henry A. Camperlengo, also a resident of the Albany area. Dr. Camperlengo reportedly purchased the car for $5,000. The doctor retained the Mercedes until 1973, when it was acquired by well-known marque enthusiasts Paul and Barbara Karassik. Mr. Karassik - born in Russia and fluent in that language - is famed in car collector circles for his decade-long search and recovery of two long-missing 1939 Auto Union Type D Grand Prix racing cars from the old Soviet Union in the 1990s.

History records that BYU150 then returned to the United Kingdom but was purchased by Don Williams and circled back to America. In late 1992, it was purchased by the late William Lassiter, Jr. of West Palm Beach, Florida, another well-regarded antique car collector. Mr. Lassiter was known for his stable of fine classics which were all driven and maintained to a high standard. In 1999, it was again sold, remaining in a family collection for over 15 years.